Former stripper, lawyer fiancé charged with falsely reporting crime

Thursday

Jul 25, 2013 at 7:22 PM

By Kim Ring, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

EAST BROOKFIELD — A North Brookfield lawyer and his fiancée, a former exotic dancer, have been charged with filing a false police report after they allegedly told Rutland officers she had been kidnapped July 3.

Brett Malofsky, 46, of 18 Arch St., North Brookfield, who has a law office in North Brookfield, was arraigned on the charge Tuesday.

His fiancée, Elaine Stella Ivanowski, 23, of Rutland, failed to show up for her arraignment Tuesday and a warrant was issued for her arrest. She turned herself in at court Wednesday and was arraigned on the charge along with charges of disorderly conduct and witness intimidation.

Both were released on personal recognizance and are due back in court Aug. 8.

The alleged incident occurred July 3 when a Rutland police officer, who was on a detail for the town fireworks, saw Ms. Ivanowski get out of a car and approach a bystander. That person allegedly instructed her to talk with a nearby female officer, who wrote in a report that Ms. Ivanowski told her she had been kidnapped by the man in the car.

Mr. Malofsky also called police and made a similar report, according to court documents.

On Wednesday, he said he believed at the time that Ms. Ivanowski had been kidnapped, though his opinion may since have changed.

The man who was driving with Ms. Ivanowski in his car said he never kidnapped her but was driving her to Comet Pond in Hubbardston for swimming and "to discuss seeing her in her open relationship with Brett," he wrote in a statement to police.

Ms. Ivanowski said in a telephone interview Wednesday she believed she was being kidnapped by her friend and wanted to go home, not swimming.

"So I just got out of the car," she said, adding that she eventually started walking home while officers searched her friend's car unsuccessfully for the gun she told officers she believed he was carrying. She said she did not expect to face any charges, though police warned her that if they did not find a gun, she would be arrested.

In 2008, when she worked as a dancer at Centerfolds club in Oxford, Ms. Ivanowski admitted to an affair with her creative writing teacher at Quabbin Regional High School in Barre. It eventually cost him his job.

She told a reporter during a telephone interview this week she is no longer a stripper, and she believes her recent brush with the law stems from a relationship she had with a police officer who she thinks is working behind the scenes to cause problems for her.

Ms. Ivanowski also said she was surprised when she saw the name of a different officer, a member of the Rutland department with whom she's been exchanging text messages, mentioned in the police report for the July 3 incident as having ordered the charges filed against her.

She said that officer had been to her apartment once for an unrelated matter and invited her to Martha's Vineyard.

The police report indicates that Officer Thomas Downey's investigation showed Mr. Malofsky, Ms. Ivanowski, and the man she claimed kidnapped her have been involved "in similar incidents in several other communities."

Contact Kim Ring at kring@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @kimmring